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Hello! I run a Final Fantasy CD site that has detailed info and scans on the many CDs released for both the video game series and other FF-related ventures. This journal is to make note of site updates and for general ramblings about Final Fantasy and video game music as a whole.

Are you perhaps looking for more information on the songs "1000 Words" or "real Emotion" from Final Fantasy X-2? Then have a look at this entry:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/chibischala/48958.html

If you're looking for a good resource on how to spot bootleg items (including music CDs), check this page:

http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html

このサイトには、ファイナルファンタジーCDに関する情報があります。（英語です。） 訪問してください！

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May. 30th, 2009 @ 07:55 pm "Video Games Live" CD to include Final Fantasy music
I didn't follow news of the Video Games Live concert, so I don't know much about the concert itself or even if there was more than one such event. In any case, there is going to be a CD release of the concert held at the Hollywood Bowl in July 2005. The concert's playlist included FF music, among many other games' music. You can preorder the CD from CD Japan or Play-Asia.
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May. 25th, 2009 @ 12:18 pm SaGa 20th Anniversary CD set coming up (Final Fantasy Legend)
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Square Enix is coming out with a huge 20-CD set celebrating 20 years of the SaGa series. The first three games of the SaGa series had been released as Final Fantasy Legend, FFL2 and FFL3 in the U.S., for the original Gameboy. Later on, they decided to keep the SaGa name for the U.S. versions, hence SaGa Frontier and the games afterward. I remember playing the first FFL and thinking it was really different from the FF series as I knew it, with its limited-use weapons and armor. Heh...I abused the heck out of the unlimited-use King's Armor to gain gold and XP before we had to return the items to their rightful owner.

Anyway. The 20th anniversary soundtrack comes with a bonus DVD. You can preorder the soundtrack at CD Japan or from Play-Asia. For more information, visit SE's official page on the soundtrack.
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May. 21st, 2009 @ 09:44 am Geocities site change
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As I learned a few weeks back, Yahoo will be closing down Geocities sometime later this year. So I'm in the process of moving everything on that site over to schala.info. Heh...I've had that domain registered for as long as I've had ffmusic.info, but now it will finally have significance aside from just being a redirect to my FF site.

I'm very sad to see Geocities go. It was my first real website, it was free, and it had quite a lot of features considering you didn't have to pay for any of them. I got a lot of use out of it. But alas...I suppose its time has come. Farewell and thanks for the good times, Geocities. (No, I will not make a fish quote here. ^_~ I really have to read that book one of these days.)

It'll take me at least a month to move everything over, so the site isn't completely up. Right now, it has only the front page and the background -- no other pages or graphics have been uploaded. Once the move is complete, and if Geocities hasn't shut down by then, I'll make everything on Geocities redirect to my new domain. Which will be quite a task because all the filenames on my computer have gotten truncated and changed during my many hard drive crashes and computer switchovers. But I'll make it through.

Meanwhile, other events in real life must be taken care of.
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May. 14th, 2009 @ 03:15 pm Sheet music update
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Added a few sheet music books to the KMP section, along with cover pictures to the KMP books I've found so far. Most of the pictures were taken either from KMP's site or from Amazon Japan. I'll do that with the others...eventually. Man...I really wish these companies would stop using the same names for all their books. Or at least put volume numbers on them.
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May. 7th, 2009 @ 10:32 am FF update
Current Mood: w00t!
Current Music: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
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Added a messload of scans for the FF11 soundtrack Premium Edition. GOOD LORD FINALLY. Because the box had so much stuff, and I ended up cross-checking tracklistings and playtimes, AND I had real life getting in the way, it took about a week to finish all the scanning and information.

Plus, in the course of that, I've also added cover and CD scans and info to all the various FF11 soundtracks, which I'm a bit too lazy to go into detail here right now.

On a totally different note, for those interested, I will soon be selling off some anime CDs. I'll post my sale list here in addition to other places.

Speaking of real life, I have to go catch up on it. And stop playing Picross for the time being.
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Apr. 26th, 2009 @ 11:33 am Very small FF update
Current Mood: sleepy
Just added a few piano books to the sheet music page.

As is obvious, I'm back from Sakura Con. It was a blast! Other games captured my attention while I was there, however. The main reason I "persuaded" my b/f to go to Seattle was because Smile.dk of DDR fame was set to perform. And I cosplayed as Lana Skye from "Phoenix Wright." If you were there, I was the one wearing a skirt -- there was another Lana who was using pants, which was probably a good idea considering the photo shoot get-together was outdoors and it was COLD and I don't do so well in cold. ^_~
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Apr. 10th, 2009 @ 09:22 am Seattle Final Fantasy concert
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So...here at Sakura Con, I got an ad in the goodie bag talking about the "Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy" concert to be performed at Seattle's Benaroya Hall on July 9, 10, and 11. I completely missed this when it apparently first announced back in December 2008. ARGH! Conducted by Arnie Roth, and get this: There will be more guest receptions with Nobuo Uematsu! Concert tickets start at $17, while guest reception tickets are $100 (separate cost from the concert).

I am completely torn about attending. I've been to an FF concert before, but I would love to go to a reception and meet Uematsu. Plus, vacation time is iffy...Gah! I'm so torn.
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Mar. 16th, 2009 @ 08:13 am FF updates
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I added scans of the music CDs that came with the FF8 Windows version of the game, and scans of the Square Enix Music Sampler. I also added an interesting CD I chanced upon in the Yahoo Japan auctions: something called the "Uematsu Radio Spectacle Edition." Read more about it on the promos page.

I also added info and scans on the Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon soundtrack, which has remixes of various Final Fantasy songs.

Next up on my update list: the Final Fantasy XI Premium Edition. Finally. Plus a bunch of bootlegs so I can finally get rid of them.

I know I had other things to ramble about, but now I seem to have forgotten them. Oh well, later. ^_~
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Mar. 12th, 2009 @ 08:01 am Possible addition to FF site?
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Here's another possible project I'm thinking of: Making up a master list of all officially released, arranged songs by game. This is mostly to help those who are fans of the game to easily find all instances of arranged songs that appear on compilation CDs and, in some cases, totally different CDs. (For example, if you didn't know, there's an arranged song from FF3 on the FF9 Original Soundtrack Plus album.)

I got this idea when, in the course of trying to find whether a particular song had been released on more than one CD, I had to pull out a bunch of FF9 CDs and cross-reference what I had on the site. It was quite a hassle, to say the least. Such a master list might be far easier to upkeep rather than constantly adding to the "related works" list on each soundtrack page. I'll still keep up the "related works" list, the misc. CDs page and the promos page, but it'd also be nice to have a more centralized location. Of course, that'll also be another page to upkeep...I wonder if it'd be easier if I could do it as a PHP file...but anyway.

I'm just considering it for now. Whether I'll actually do it remains to be seen...there are still so many things I'm correcting on the site, more scans to add, information that many people have e-mailed to me and reminders that I've made to myself. But a lot of the items on my to-do list often end up taking far more time than I expect. We'll see.
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Mar. 10th, 2009 @ 11:02 am Final Fantasy ramblings
Current Music: Ride On - Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon version
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I'm in the midst of adding information on the soundtrack to the "Final Fantasy Fables" series (originally "Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon" series in Japanese -- "Chocobo and the Magic Book") to the misc. CDs page and in the process, I'm finding a lot of things that I want to update. Most of them are little niggling HTML things, some of them are typos, some are retranslations. Re-scanning older CDs is also on my to-do list.

Another thing is that now that all previous Final Fantasy games have been officially released in English in some form or another, some names in my tracklistings are not necessarily correct in regards to the official English translation. I doubt I'll have time to play newer retro games like FF2 and FF3, so if you know the official English spellings of place names and character names, please let me know so I can change them. The only instances I will NOT budge is on "Lenna," "Boco" and "ExDeath" from Final Fantasy V; I don't particularly care for "Reyna" in the Playstation version, plus her name spelling seems to keep changing with each incarnation of the game. And there have so many translations of ExDeath's original Japanese name, "EKUSUDESU," that I'm not even going to bother. (At least the Gameboy Advance translation of "ExDeath" is a little better than the Playstation's "X-Death.")
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Mar. 9th, 2009 @ 07:18 am A few updates
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I added scans and tracklists for the Crystal Chronicles Echoes of Time soundtrack, and also added a new page for the upcoming FF11 arranged album Sanctuary, by the Star Onions. I also have a few CDs to add to the misc. page and promos page once I clear all these papers off my desk. ^_~

When I scanned the EOT soundtrack and viewed the images on the site, it suddenly hit me that my CD and cover scans seem rather small. I've actually increased my image sizes over time since I first started the site, but since broadband Internet connections weren't as widespread back then, I kept them relatively small so that dialup users wouldn't be waiting forever for an image to load. Now, though, with 20-inch-and-more monitors and broadband becoming the standard, I'm thinking of making the scans larger, starting with the Sanctuary CD. Feel free to respond to this post and tell me what you think. ^_^
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Feb. 12th, 2009 @ 08:01 am Things happen. (general ramblings)
Current Mood: ...zzz.
I think I've finally got my new PC completely set up -- or at least as "completely" as it'll ever be until I figure out what other things I need on it. It runs Vista. And I'd like to heartily kick Windows Mail. I do still need to transfer some updated files from my laptop.

In a show of possible irony, I've got the Windows 7 beta (build 6936, if you wanna get technically specific) wallpaper as my desktop picture. It's awfully cute.

I'm testing out my printer and Photoshop compatibilities with my new system by doing a small update. I've added a couple of piano books to the sheet music page. In the process of that, I'm changing the format to match that of the misc. CDs page, with book cover scans.

Doing just those few updates took a lot longer than I'd expected, and now I'm tired.
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Jan. 16th, 2009 @ 06:34 pm Echoes of Time soundtrack
Current Mood: lethargic
I added a page for the upcoming soundtrack for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Okay, so when I said in my last post that updates wouldn't be made for some time, I mostly meant updates of the picture variety, because my laptop isn't hooked up to the scanner. That could change, though, since my scanner is an all-in-one and I really do need to print some things, so I might be connecting them sometime soon. At least once I finish about 15 other more pressing items on my to-do list. By which time my new Dell will probably have arrived and I will be wading through Windows Vista. Oh joy.

Anyway. The Japanese release of the Distant Worlds CD has been released. I haven't opened it yet, but from a cursory glance it looks like it's simply the original AWR release with an obi with Japanese printing, and far more expensive. I still have to compare liner notes to see if there's anything different.
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Jan. 9th, 2009 @ 03:56 pm PC down, email down for now
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Frank De Lima
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So my PC is down yet AGAIN, most likely because of a power problem, whether it's the actual power supply or something with the motherboard. This time, rather than trying to fix it, I've decided to just replace it. It was a custom-built computer first assembled back in 2000 or 2001, even though most of the major components have been replaced since then, but overall it's still pretty old. I was looking at a Dell small-form factor that my b/f pointed me to. When exactly I'll get it, I'm not sure. For the moment, I'm using my laptop exclusively, which isn't hooked up to the scanner or set up with my email, so no updates or email for the time being. I have had several emails in the past month or so that I still need to respond to.

In other news, the "PLAY! Symphony Live" CD and DVD set is FINALLY shipping, after they originally announced it would be released in June 2008. (Hmm...I KNEW there was a CD I was meaning to add to the site...) Go on over to their site for more info.

I also received a recent order from CD Japan that was part of its current "Final Fantasy Soundtrack Campaign." It came with the promised "card case" (which I hadn't understood what it meant until I actually saw it) plus some kind of "gift card" that seems to be good for points on some Japanese music site. Being that I can read all of two words on the instructions with the card, I don't have all the details. I'll post more info and pics later.
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Dec. 27th, 2008 @ 10:26 pm Special Final Fantasy promotion on CD Japan
CDJ is currently running a campaign where if you purchase selected Final Fantasy CDs, you'll get a special card case with an FF logo, as long as supplies last. Check out the link below for the list of eligible CDs and terms:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/aff/click.cgi/PytJTGW7Lok/111/A612919/rcms%2Fanime%2Ffinal_fantasy_ost.html
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Nov. 12th, 2008 @ 04:37 pm FF updates
Current Music: Ronfaure - Final Fantasy Remix
Added info and scans for FF Remix; info on the upcoming Square Enix release of the Distant Worlds CD; and a couple new albums to the misc. CDs page.

Also added a page for the upcoming limited and regular editions of the Dissidia Final Fantasy soundtracks.
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Aug. 5th, 2008 @ 07:10 am FF bootlegs on Amazon
Current Mood: sore
Tags: ,
...Not that I'm surprised. But when you see an official, separate listing on Amazon for a bootleg, you gotta wonder. Here's a page for so-called "Final Fantasy: The Piano Collections":

http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-The-Piano-Collections/dp/B000FOWZD6/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1217956109&sr=8-10

I'll say it now, THIS IS A BOOTLEG LISTING! I don't know who gave the picture that's posted on the page, but it's obviously implying -- and the product description clearly states -- that this "collection" includes the Piano Collections from FF4 to FFX and FFX-2. If you check the seller descriptions, Jukebox1377 states it as being from K-O Records, which is a known bootleg company. Bottom line is, if you are against bootlegs, do NOT buy this collection.
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Jun. 12th, 2008 @ 04:38 pm Decline of karaoke?
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Is it just me, or does it seem like fewer artists are putting official karaokes on their CD singles? The vast majority of the Bleach opening/end themes have none, most of the Bleach Beat Sessions have none even though they have character songs. Only "older" artists like Akino Arai still seem to consistently include karaokes, while newer ones like Angela Aki aren't (and I would LOVE to sing some of Aki's songs). While there are still lots of karaokes given for character songs, it's really the op/ed themes and insert songs that often make the most impact.

Just an observation.
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May. 24th, 2008 @ 01:25 pm CD and DVD release scheduled for "PLAY! A Video Game Symphony"
I never got to attend any of the PLAY! concerts and haven't followed news of this tour very much, so I don't know much about it, but this series seems to be a great success so far. According to their website, their first performance was in Chicago, then in Europe, and now is going on a world tour. They've done music from various games including the ever-popular Final Fantasy, Mario and Zelda series, and a host of other games. Now a CD and DVD release is planned; to preorder, go here (they're currently offering $5 off until May 31). It's expected in stock in June 2008.
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May. 12th, 2008 @ 09:59 pm Square-Enix North America store
Current Mood: tired
I got a heads-up about Square Enix's North America site finally opening up a store that includes music CDs. Find it here:

http://www.shopcdsbooks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SQX&Category_Code=MSCD

It's mostly recent Final Fantasy stuff, but there are a couple other CDs there too.
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